GSSC Series: Uncertainty can Represent Opportunity for Agile Companies

Posted on by Kelly Dawson

by Kelly Dawson

Companies that are able to capitalize on the opportunities presented by upheaval and uncertainty are the ones who will be the long-term winners in the global supply chain industry, said Martin Christopher, emeritus professor of marketing and logistics at Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom.

Speaking during JD’s Global Supply Smart Supply Chain Summit (GSSC) on October 22nd, Christopher said that many companies have been caught unprepared for the disruption presented by the pandemic.

“This has never been a more challenging time,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what industry we are in or which part of the world we work in, global supply chains are having to be re-evaluated and reassessed.”

He described current conditions with the acronym VUCA: Volatility in the market; Uncertainty about the future; Complexity in the links of the global supply chain; and Ambiguity in analyzing current conditions.

In order to succeed in these conditions, companies must be agile, he said.

“Companies who are most likely to succeed in today’s world are those companies who are faster on their feet,” he said. “They can make decisions quickly, they can change direction quickly, they don’t have investments which have been made some years ago in brick-and-mortars [that] they can’t change.”

One of the critical elements to being more agile is staying extremely close to the market in order to see it more clearly, he said. A successful company “reads what’s happening not just day-by-day, but hour-by-hour— and new developments in information technology are making it possible for us to do this.”

These companies are also “sharing that information upstream and downstream so that we can synchronize across our supply chain so we’re all marching to the same drumbeat. Supply chains have their forecasts, we [as analysts] have our forecasts, and our customers have a different forecast.”

For JD, agility is baked directly into the corporate strategy—and data plays a significant role in realizing that vision.

For JD, agility is baked directly into the corporate strategy—and data plays a significant role in realizing that vision. For example, during the spike in online shopping in the early months of the pandemic this year, JD Logistics immediately increased inventory in warehouses across the country based on consumption big data, to ensure smooth, fast delivery. In fact, despite the pandemic most customers still enjoyed same- or next-day delivery.

When Wuhan went into lockdown earlier this year, JD quickly deployed logistics staff and introduced automated delivery robots to minimize human contact during deliveries, ensuring the safety of both customers and JD couriers.

JD has also implemented the “Big Boss” approach, which delegates decision-making power to the managers of various districts and divisions. The thinking behind this strategy is that these lower-level “big bosses” are in fact best equipped to make decisions related to their work, as they are closest to the customers. Eliminating the need for multiple layers of top-down approval has made the company more agile in responding to customer demand—ultimately the most important aim of an agile approach.

Ultimately this kind of strategy will prepare a company to take advantage in times of uncertainty, Christopher said.

“It’s not just about the downside of risk, it is also about the upside of risk,” he said. “If we can prepare ourselves as companies and organizations to take advantage of that upside, we could indeed be the winners.”

Christopher’s comments came amidst the fifth GSSC summit, which is an annual event focused on logistics innovation and technology communication on a global scale, hosted by JD Logistics. Under this year’s theme of “Open Capabilities, Shared Growth”, the GSSC gathered the world’s leading experts in the industries of logistics, commerce, science and technology to discuss how to seize the opportunities provided by the macro environment and policy, with an aim to reshape the industrial supply chain and promote high-speed growth.

(kellydawson@jd.com)

Who is JD.com?

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Ella Kidron

Many people know JD.com as a retailer – in fact, China’s largest – in recognition of its first party retail model, which is unique in China. Others refer to JD as China’s second largest e-commerce company, a gross oversimplification of the business. If you ask people who truly understand JD, however, they express an understanding that JD is not purely a retailer, but in fact a technology company with much of its technology having been first proven viable in retail scenarios.

Today, JD defines itself as a technology and services company with supply chain at its core. But what does that mean in practice? There are many examples of this throughout the JD business. The announcement of mature and commercially scalable Level-4 (L4) autonomous delivery robots in Changshu, Jiangsu province, provides a classic demonstration of how JD’s capabilities, from hardware, to software, to real-world application, position the company to provide value far beyond the retail domain, and far beyond the doors of JD.com. The announcement was made at JD’s fifth annual Global Smart Supply Chain Summit (GSSC) on October 22nd, held online for the first time. Going forward, JD will work closely with Changshu, a top five county-level city in China by GDP, to develop a smart city. The company plans to put 100 delivery robots into operation in Changshu by the end of this year.

JD.com’s Level 4 autonomous delivery robot

JD.com’s Level 4 autonomous delivery robot

 

Hardware and software

At JD’s delivery Dongnan delivery station in Changshu, a courier packs the robot with packages for the delivery run according to a system which indicates matches each secure cubby hole and its associated order. The design of the hardware, from ensuring the right size for the cubby holes based on various package sizes, to the selection of the laser beams and cameras have all been carefully overseen by JD to ensure that they will work for the intended application scenario. Furthermore, the robot has been designed to appear friendly, and approachable, making it less intimidating for consumers who are used to receiving packages directly from couriers. The robot’s autonomous driving system developed in-house and its arithmetic logic unit which has lowered the power consumption of the robot to 10% of the industry average – equivalent to that of a standard lightbulb.

From there, the robot is sent on its way. It follows routes it has planned based on the delivery addresses, ensuring the most efficient end-to-end journey. When it arrives, it sends a message to customers with a retrieval code. The robot is programmed to wait a certain amount of time, and if the customer doesn’t go pick up their package, the delivery will go back into the system and be delivered by a courier at a convenient time.

At JD’s delivery Dongnan delivery station in Changshu,

While other companies in China and globally are using robots for last mile delivery, they have yet to leave the confines of controlled traffic scenarios like university campuses. Using a robot on open roads has special considerations and algorithms and a perception system developed in-house by JD ensures smooth operation. When a robot is just going to be used in a closed park, the technology is generally similar to that of a fixed robot, which is relatively simple to develop but has limitations. But for a public road, the technology must be similar to that of a robo-taxi, which uses highly autonomous driving technology and is verified by a cloud simulation platform, which is based on accumulated data from real road conditions.

JD’s cloud simulation platform is able to discern how the robot should behave in numerous traffic scenarios –someone riding a bike against traffic, the sudden stop of the car in front, etc. – so that when it comes in contact with such scenarios it can respond quickly and act appropriately. AI-based machine learning is used to train this behavior. Qi Kong, Chief Scientist of Automation at JD Logistics, explained that the simulation platform serves to exercise the “brain” of the robot, but it needs to be combined with the “muscle memory” of actual application on the open road. That said, the robot is able to learn extremely fast. Within two hours, it can learn half a year’s worth of cases.

Simulation platform for autonomous delivery robots

Simulation platform for autonomous delivery robots

Right now, autonomous driving is at a point where robots know to stop if the car ahead stops, however it is difficult for autonomous driving technology to discern the reason for the stop – is the car in front waiting for the light to turn green? Is it parked temporarily waiting for someone? Or has there been some sort of breakdown? Because of this, a central command center of sorts enables someone to be looking over all of JD’s robots, and have oversight into why the robot is behaving a certain way. On the command screen, people appear as undiscernible rectangles, allowing the person looking over it to see what is going on without intruding on privacy. There is no need for anyone to follow the robot as it can be monitored from afar.

 

From operation to commercialization

One of JD’s key tenets in developing technology is to avoid a steep learning curve for the end user. Technology should be used to improve experience, increase efficiency and decrease costs. This is true of the autonomous delivery robots. Jie Wang, a courier with a personal interest in technology volunteered to be the first to “adopt” the robot for his delivery. Through the Adoption Program, JD couriers are able to use the robot to handle some of their deliveries freeing them up to do more pickups. Wang used to have to deliver 170-180 packages a day. The robot can cover 50% of Wang’s deliveries to office buildings, residential compounds and universities, giving him more time to do more pick-ups (thanks to the opening up of JD Logistics to parties beyond JD Retail, businesses and individuals can also use JD Logistics’ to send packages) and earn more income. Wang’s income increased by over 30% in September alone. The robot can travel as far as 50 km on a single charge, but is intended to take more frequent, shorter trips.

JD began researching autonomous driving technology and released its first autonomous delivery robot in 2016. Earlier this year, in the face of COVID-19, the company deployed version 4.0, which was the world’s first L4 autonomous delivery robot to be put on public roads without human interaction, in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in China. During its 107-day deployment in Wuhan, the robot was used to make contactless deliveries to the hospitals in an effort to reduce cross-contamination. It traveled over 6,800 kilometers and delivered over 13,000 packages. The saying goes that “luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. While the coronavirus was by no means welcomed, the need for contactless delivery under a highly contagious virus, has demonstrated the long-term viability of autonomous delivery robots for last mile delivery. Previously, autonomous driving technology was more of a “nice to have” – a demonstration of technology prowess – in the short term, with potential in the long-term. With the coronavirus, the need for deployment and further development has become more imminent.

The autonomous delivery robot in Wuhan

The autonomous delivery robot in Wuhan

Through several iterations and improvements in the technology in the last several years, JD is already at a point where its technology can be commercialized. Today, its robots are one third of the original price and that cost will continue to decline with increased scale.

JD has already demonstrated and realized the commercial potential of this technology. A partnership announced between JD Logistics and King Long, a leading bus manufacturer in China, will see JD contributing the autonomous driving system, operations platform and relevant standards to a joint project to research and manufacture commercial use low-speed autonomous delivery vehicles.

 

More than meets the eye in tech application

Autonomous driving technology just scratches the surface of JD’s technology capabilities. Take for example, this upcoming Singles Day (November 11th) and the associated grand promotion. Before customers have even placed an order, JD’s algorithms are calculating the likelihood of consumers in certain areas buying particular products and mapping out inventory according to those calculations, or advising its brand partners on an inventory allocation strategy ahead of the sale.

For pre-sale products, JD will put some of the stock in delivery stations nearby residential compounds of business centers, making the end delivery stations as warehouses so that consumers will be able to receive their products in minutes even during the busiest shopping season. When the customer places an order, JD again determines where to source that order so that it can be delivered as quickly as possible, in the most efficient way possible. The algorithms that determine where a product should be placed and the route it should take, are simplified into highly accessible information on the customer front – real time tracking of every touch point in the delivery process, including the name and phone number of the courier who will deliver the package.

For pre-sale products, JD will put some of the stock in delivery stations nearby residential compounds of business centers

In some cases, JD’s Omnichannel Fulfillment system will determine that said product is in fact located at a partner offline store near the customer, and instead of fulfilling the order from a JD warehouse, it will be delivered by the partner store, possibly located just steps away from the customer.

Spikes in demand for certain products will also send signals to the systems for restocking, or for a need to stabilize prices. Take for example when JD’s supply chain team noticed a spike in mask sales at the very start of the COVID-19 outbreak. With the information in hand, the team was able to reallocate mask supply to the places where it was needed most.

 

Tech meets healthcare

JD Health, JD’s healthcare subsidiary, combines medical and health e-commerce, internet-based medical services, intelligent hospital solutions and consumer healthcare services. Leveraging JD.com’s core strength of supply chain, JD Health has become the largest online pharmaceutical retailer in China, accounting for more than 15% of the market with extensive presence in B2C (Business-to-Consumer), B2B (Business-to-Business) and O2O (Online-to-Offline) services. Of the many technological applications at JD Health, the company uses an AI-integrated system called PharmCOO (“Pharma chief operating officer”) to optimize the clinical prescription process and improve patient safety.

JD Health, the company uses an AI-integrated system called PharmCOO

At the core of the prescription review system is a knowledge graph based on Peking University Third Hospital’s vast database of pharmaceutical information. The knowledge graph-based system acts as a highly attuned and comprehensive expert for pharmacists. Using JD’s natural language processing and deep learning technology, PharmCOO can provide doctors timely reminders on contraindications, and consultant on the use of various drugs and the dosage. It can draw subtle, intelligent connections between a patient’s condition, allergies to medicine and more. Unlike a unique database, the knowledge graph-based system is constantly learning from the experience of medical professionals, enabling it to improve accuracy and taking the burden off pharmacies to memorize troves of medical data, allowing them to prioritize learning the most pertinent information.

JD Health and Huaxi second hospital of Sichuan University Jointly built an AI-powered customer service robot system to enhance patient consultation interaction experience and triage accuracy and efficiency. At present, the triage accuracy has reached more than 80%. With AI self-learning, a more accurate triage rate will be achieved in the future.

 

Application of digital technology

JD Digits, which will IPO on the Star market in Shanghai, combines digital technology with a rich variety of application scenarios spanning many industries. As a testament to its innovation, the company was named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020 as the only Chinese company under the Data Science category. The company’s digital solutions also have been deployed across multiple sectors, including financial services, agriculture, intelligent cities, and digital marketing. For instance, JD Digits is helping financial institutions to achieve digital transformations through its one-stop financial digital solution T1 and credit card digital operation solution and intelligent asset management technology platform JT².In marketing, the company has succeeded in making digital advertising and outdoor media much more accurate and effective in reaching their audiences. Leveraging AI as core technology capability and other pillars including data, IoT, and blockchain, JD Digits is fully committed to driving forward the digitalization of industries. Over the years, JD Digits has continuously expanded its R&D investments. More than 60% of the company’s global employees are technical personnel while over 95% of its projects are focused on achieving smart and highly automated operations.

JD Digits, which will IPO on the Star market in Shanghai

JD Cloud & AI

Earlier this year, JD announced that JD Cloud & AI would be the fourth core business to provide technology services, joining the ranks of JD Retail, JD Logistics and JD Digits. JD Cloud & AI, consolidates JD’s strength in advanced technologies to provide a wholesale technology solution, internally for different segments of JD.com and externally for partners.

Dr. Bowen Zhou, president of JD Cloud & AI and chair of JD Technology Committee has a clear vision for the business: “Our research and development is broken down into ABCDE (AI, Big Data, Cloud, Devices, or IoT, and Exploration). Looking more closely, if we are to imagine ABCDE as representing different parts of the human body, AI represents the brain, IoT represents the nerve endings, Cloud Computing represents the torso, muscles and blood vessels, and Big Data represents the oxygen that runs up and down the body. Finally, E is about maintaining a degree of curiosity, exploring new practices and pushing the edge of the aforementioned ABCD technologies.” The smart customer service robot developed by JD Cloud & AI which is able to sense sentiment and respond accordingly, has now been deployed across several other businesses such as most recently retail, municipal governance and medical services.

 

Technology, Technology, Technology

Through JD’s 16 years of development, the company has acquired extensive technological capabilities and infrastructure from retail to logistics to digital technology. JD’s R&D team now has over 18,000 personnel, among which over 80% hold masters or above degrees. In 2019, total investment by listed and unlisted affiliates of JD exceeded RMB 17.9 billion yuan (US$ 2.6 billion). Back in 2017, founder and CEO Richard Liu said it best that JD would focus on three things: “Technology, technology, technology.”

At the GSSC, Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics, said that more than 100,000 robots will join the JD logistics family in the next five years. As demonstrated by the Changshu project and numerous others, technology represents not just a new growth area for JD, but is mapping its future development, and the impact it will have on society as a whole.

 

Yuchuan Wang, Ling Cao, Vivian Yang and Hui Zhang, all staff members in the Global PR Division at JD.com, contributed to this article.

 

(ella@jd.com)

JD Digits and ITG to Build E-Sign Platform Based on Blockchain

Posted on by Kelly Dawson

by Kelly Dawson

The tradition of signing a binding physical contract between two parties dates back to the Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD), even before the birth of paper (105 AD in Eastern Han Dynasty), a history of two thousand years. And yet the process of signing a paper contract has always posed problems: easy forgery of signatures or seals; the necessity and inconvenience of either in-person signing or contract delivery; and the difficulty of tracing the source of disputes.

In response to these pain points, JD Digits and ITG (International Trade Group) Holding will partner to jointly build a new digital signing model based on JD’s electronic cloud contract platform. The new platform, JD E-sign, will rely heavily on blockchain technology developed by JD Digits, and is expected to help ITG Holding reduce cost and time expenditures by 80%; and decrease contract costs by 60%, greatly improving the efficiency of trade cooperation.

Named a Fortune Global 500 company in 2018, ITG Holding’s core business includes supply chain management, real estate operations and financial services. The company will use the platform to sign contracts in its dealings with enterprises and individuals in the sectors of textile, oil and chemical, rubber and tires, agricultural products and more—potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of customers and enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

The platform will enable digital signing for a variety of contract categories, including sales, transportation, warehousing, port operations, guarantee letters, mortgage letters, receipts and more.

Blockchain technology will ensure that the signing process is tamper-proof and fully traceable, featuring real-name authentication, electronic signature, a verified time-stamp and more—all in compliance with China’s “Electronic Signature Law”, which provides legal grounds to determine the validity of electronic legal documents.

The electronic signature and the content of the contract will also be fully protected. The platform integrates a nationally credited electronic certification service. Based on JD Digits’ industry-leading data security protection scheme, the platform will encrypt and store all information to prevent data leakage.

With the authorization and consent of the customer, the platform will digitally file the signed contract on the blockchain, simultaneously storing the contract with various judicial and notary institutions to register the legality of the document, including the Beijing Internet Court, the Guangzhou Internet Court, and the Beijing Notary Office.

The contracts will then be readily available for search and viewing by relevant parties either online or via a WeChat miniprogram. Individuals or enterprises who wish to access the document will only need to provide account and security information.

These outlined steps will greatly reduce the tedious processes associated with traditional paper contract signing. Thanks to JD Digits, ITG Holding will be able to realize digital transformation of multiple business scenarios, greatly reducing time, effort and costs.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)

320 Brands Join JD’s Anti-counterfeit System

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

As this year’s Singles Day shopping festival period kicks off, JD’s anti-counterfeit system Hubaochui (护宝锤, literally means hammer to safeguard treasures) has enrolled 320 reputable brands, each with annual sales of RMB hundreds of millions yuan.

Leveraging algorithms, the system will notify brands when fake products are being sold by third-party merchants, including issues like false advertising of the brand name. After a merchant is confirmed to be selling fake products or infringing on a brand’s intellectual property, the merchant will be punished accordingly.

Previously, when brands identified a merchant selling fake products, the brands needed to submit an application to JD’s platform, and wait while JD verified the validity of the complaint. The Hubaochui system greatly improves anti-counterfeit governance efficiency.

Youpin, a leading brand under Xiaomi, is an example of a brand that has benefited from this system. Two years after joining JD, Youpin’s annual sales have increased from RMB 12 million yuan to their current annual target of RMB 150 million yuan. With this success has come several merchants attempting to take advantage of the Youpin name, by including the brand’s name in their product description despite having nothing to do with Youpin.

“Previously we had to find such problems manually, and then we would need to go through a tedious process to address the issue,” Jinhua Yang, manager from JD’s Youpin flagship store said. “The new platform has addressed those challenges and has helped to clean up the market environment, and improve our brand’s influence. Till now, we have saved nearly RMB 400,000 yuan in potential losses as a result of the system’s help.”

Bo Wang, head of rules and governance at JD’s platform business said, “JD holds zero-tolerance for counterfeits goods. During this Singles Day, in addition to the existing system, JD has also provided other methods to identify abnormal purchasing cases and build merchants’ credit system. These policies were designed to create a healthy, fair and transparent ecosystem, which aims to be trusted by brands, merchants and customers.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

GSSC Series: Technological Achievements of JD Logistics

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Vivian Yang

JD Logistics launched its own technology brand JDL Technology during the fifth Global Smart Supply Chain Summit (GSSC) on Oct 22, further underlining the company’s strong capacity in independent innovation and its leadership in logistics technology.

Key milestones of JD logistics’ technological development in the past ten years include:

About 3,000 patents acquired and transferred into real-world operations that enabled many human-robot interactions and propelled the upskilling of over 100,000 JD logistics employees

 

Six world-leading technology deployments:

– First in the world to use autonomous delivery robots on university campus

– First to build a highly automated warehouse with 100% self-developed supply chain management system

– First to operate autonomous delivery vehicles on open roads

– First in the world to use robots for pick-up and sorting of items in its distribution centers

– First to apply Level-4 autonomous delivery robots in the fight against COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan

– First autonomous delivery city in the world, created by JD Logistics in collaboration with Changshu of Jiangsu province

 

Major breakthroughs in logistics industry according to timeline:

– 2014: Built the first Asia No.1 highly automated logistics park（Shanghai） and launched WMS3.0 warehouse management system

– 2016: Achieved the first parcel delivery by drone

– 2016: Launched the first autonomous delivery robot in China

– 2017: Won China’s first provincial level airspace use approval for drone flights

– 2018: Led China’s first state-level drone delivery pilot project; made WMS5.0’s overseas debut in Thailand

– 2019: Launched first government approved drone flight in Indonesia, completed China’s first drone delivery in overseas market

– 2019: Established China’s first 5G-powered smart logistics park

– 2019: Established the largest-scale integrated smart fulfillment center in Asia

– 2020: Upgraded WMS to its 6.0 version

– 2020: Achieved flexible production in the whole fulfillment process

 

(yanghan6@jd.com)

GSSC Series: MIT Professor: Supply Chain Isn’t Leaving China

Posted on by Ling Cao

by Ling Cao

“When many of the department stores were going out of business, some companies are ready (to get through), because they met the supply chain. They understood where products will be produced, where and which product, which final product goes into and which customer it is going to,” Yossi Sheffi, professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics said at the 2020 （GSSC）Global Smart Supply Chain Summit held by JD Logistics virtually today.

“So, in case of a disruption, the supplier can quickly calculate the value trees. They know which product this supplier is supplying. They know which customer the final product is going to and they can set priorities. They are also ready to deal with disruption,” he added.

Yossi shared that successful companies can quickly set up an emergency management center and know about upcoming disruption ahead of the time.

Yossi shared that successful companies can quickly set up an emergency management center and know about upcoming disruption ahead of the time.

During the pandemic, JD has leveraged its capabilities to build emergency systems for enterprises and local governments. For example, in February,  JD helped Hubei’s provincial government build a supply chain management platform, which makes emergency supplies such as masks, goggles, and protective clothing easier to manage, distribute and trace. JD also opened up its supply chain management capabilities to SMEs to help them resume operation, including its smart supply chain management platform which covers planning, replenishment, and analysis.

Yossi also shared, “What we see is of course the growth of e-commerce, even companies who do not sell only online, their e-commerce business went up tremendously. Companies understood that even if they hadn’t done e-commerce before, it became a necessity. It’s not a question of if you want to do it, but that you have to do it to expand businesses. And as a result of this, e-commerce companies all over the world are investing more and more in fulfillment centers and distribution centers close to the customer.

As a leading logistics service provider in China, JD Logistics has continuously provided services and ensuring people’s livelihoods during the pandemic. At the height of the outbreak, JD’s efforts help address challenges like a lack of transportation and delivery resources.

“We also see that companies are installing digital tools at a much faster clip,” he added.

In addition to JD’s self-built technology system and experiences, JD has partnered with industry leading companies such as LLamasoft and Blue Yonder to provide merchants with end-to-end supply chain optimization services, covering fashion, consumer goods and high-tech.

He shared, “Finally, about (supply chains) leaving China. This is something that I don’t see happening. Many companies spend decades developing not only final assembly, but the entire supply chain, the whole ecosystem of businesses in China or suppliers and their suppliers, their relationship. They have the expertise. These cannot just change in a minute.”

“People now stay in China, not so much because of labor costs. People are going to China because of the sophistication of suppliers and the existence of the entire ecosystem. Also, of course the Chinese market is large and growing.”

 

(ling.cao@jd.com)

GSSC Series: JD Launches Logistics Technology Brand, Will Deploy Over 100,000 Robots in the Next Five Years

Posted on by Yuchuan Wang

by Yuchuan Wang

At JD’s online Global Smart Supply Chain Summit (GSSC) today, the company launched a new JD Logistics technology brand “JDL Technology”, which will aim to build digital, intelligent software and hardware supply chain products and solutions for the industry.

With the goal of becoming a world-leading supply chain logistics enterprise, Zhenhui Wang, CEO of JD Logistics, believes JD Logistics should build a second growth path by focusing on technology research and opening up its capabilities. For example, JD will continue to increase its investment in logistics technology; and in the next five years, it will deploy more than 100,000 robots to enhance the customer experience and alleviate the workload of our front-line workers, including applying 100 last-mile delivery robots in Changshu, Jiangsu province.

JD will continue to increase its investment in logistics technology

In addition, JD’s cloud warehouse, which uses a JD-developed cloud-based supply chain management solution to upgrade third party companies’ existing supply chain, will extend across all of China within three years. JD will empower industries including FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), electronics, energy, industrial products, and automobiles through supply chain solutions to improve efficiency.

In the past year, JD Logistics has seen fruitful results for its technology research and its progress in opening up. For example, indoor positioning can be precise to the centimeter in JD’s Beijing Asia No.1 fulfillment center. Through collaboration with three operators, 28 Asia No.1 fulfillment centers in China now have 5G coverage.

JD also helped build the national emergency materials management platform in 100 days after the breakout of COVID-19. Through this platform, emergency supplies can be located, managed, accessed, delivered, and traced precisely.

“The philosophy (of JDL Technology) is handling complexity with simplicity,” said  Wang. “We leave complexity and difficulties to ourselves and simplicity and convenience to customers. Through simple and optimized logistics technology products, we tackle complicated problems throughout the supply chains of different industries while improving circulation efficiency.”

The GSSC summit is an annual event focused on logistics innovation and technology communication, hosted by JD Logistics. Under this year’s theme of “Open Capabilities, Shared Growth”, the GSSC gathered the world’s leading experts in the industries of logistics, commerce, science and technology to discuss how to seize the opportunities provided by the macro environment and policy, with an aim to reshape the industrial supply chain and promote high-speed growth.

JDL Technology family, click to zoom in:

JDL Technology family, click to zoom in:

 

(yuchuan.wang@jd.com)

GSSC Series: Rise of China’s Supply Chain System Promotes Innovation Worldwide: Nobel Laureate

Posted on by Kelly Dawson

by Kelly Dawson

The rise in China’s supply chain system may ultimately result in a more robust global supply chain network, by pushing innovation and evolution that may not naturally have occurred in America’s more entrenched system, said Paul Romer, NYU economics professor and co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences.

Speaking during JD’s Global Supply Smart Supply Chain Summit (GSSC) on October 22nd, Romer noted that the current friction between the two systems (and countries) is natural. “Nations rarely maintain their position at the cutting edge of innovation and growth and discovery,” he said. “And it’s important that new nations come along who can keep the process of growth and discovery moving. The incumbent, the former leader, never likes it when this happens. So, there will be some friction along the way.”

In China, JD.com is driving the kind of innovation that Romer spoke about.

This kind of shift is healthy, whether within the global supply chain network or on a smaller level within industries, Romer said. If one enterprise maintains leadership within an industry over decades, that almost certainly will lead to stagnation and lack of innovation. The rise of new entities—and ideas—is essential to avoiding a “monoculture” of ideas, something the American system is now facing in its long-established supply chain, he said.

In China, JD.com is driving the kind of innovation that Romer spoke about. Today the company announced that it will put 100 autonomous delivery robots into operation in Jiangsu province’s Changsu city by the end of the year. JD will work with the city’s government to develop a smart city infrastructure to support the autonomous driving technology for delivery.

JD is also pushing forward the use of intelligent technologies in its warehouses. In 2017, JD launched the world’ s first fully automated B2C warehouse; today, 70 of JD’s warehouses implement automated technologies, including AGVs for picking up and sorting orders; and more. Additionally, twenty-eight of our Asia No. 1 fulfillment centers utilize 5G, integrating edge computing, big data, AI and SaaS.

Recently JD helped Japanese firm Rakuten, Inc., a global leader in Internet services, complete a successful demonstration of drone delivery beyond visual range. This marked the first time in Japan that a drone was used to deliver supplies in a mountainous region where the difference in altitude between takeoff and landing locations reached approximately 1600m. JD provided the drone and technology to achieve this maiden flight.

These kinds of innovations represent the progress that can be made by each individual entity that participates in the global supply chain, a point that Romer compared to a classic analogy posed by Adam Smith. In a pin factory, each individual is responsible for one particular task, refining and perfecting that task over time—and then that task becomes part of a chain of tasks, each perpetually improving to eventually form the strongest possible chain. Similarly, the global supply chain is made up of such individual entities, in the form of brands, manufacturers and enterprises like JD.

Ultimately small refinements and innovations by each link in the chain will drive evolution, Romer said. “Those ideas are ultimately much more important and have a bigger impact on our daily life then the kinds of things that get published in a scientific journal.

“The global supply chain is the modern reflection of the most important dynamic in economic life,” he added.

Romer’s comments came amidst the fifth GSSC summit, which is an annual event focused on logistics innovation and technology communication on a global scale, hosted by JD Logistics. Under this year’s theme of “Open Capabilities, Shared Growth”, the GSSC gathered the world’s leading experts in the industries of logistics, commerce, science and technology to discuss how to seize the opportunities provided by the macro environment and policy, with an aim to reshape the industrial supply chain and promote high-speed growth.

 

(kellydawson@jd.com)